5 Time-Saving Bike Mods To Help you with Chores

Bicycles are not just for getting around town, cruising around velodromes or perfecting welds. These zero-emissions vehicles can pull double duty as landscaping labor-savers and even as homemade appliances. All it takes is salvaged parts, leg muscles and a willingness to reinvent the wheel. PM has gathered a few of our favorite contraptions, both outlandish and ingenious.

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Pedal-Powered Snowplow

Kevin Blake's Pedal Plow is equal parts lawn-tractor chassis and snow-shovel. Blake, an engineer for Trek Bicycles, says the device saves him the backache of having to scoop and carry snow across the width of the driveway. But does it work? "It depends how you define 'work,'" he said. Blake is currently tinkering to upgrade the blade that we hope will land Snow Plow 2.0 a place alongside Mr. Plow in snow-management lore. We also wish him luck pushing ahead on his other projects: a leaf mulcher, a lawn sweeper and a lawn mower.

Pedal-Powered Mower

Claiming "no lawn too steep, no grass too tough," the creators of the Lawnmower BOB combined a bike trailer and a push (reel) mower. We like that this device, unlike the majority of Treehugger's extensive bike-mower gallery, temporarily attaches to the frame of a bike and doesn't require a permanent locomotive-to-landscape conversion. While it appears that the mower comes complete with a roll-bar, PM does not recommend substituting mowing your backyard for the rigors of a proper mountain-bike trail.

Pedal-Powered Washer

This pedal-powered clothes washer, built by Homeless Dave, saves power and water, and because it "takes above-average strength and conditioning to pedal," your waistline will shrink along with your jeans. This is not some proof-of-concept or demonstration model, he says--it's actually the way he does his laundry. Dave is approaching his hundredth load of laundry using the bike-powered washer. He tells PM he's "giddy as a schoolgirl about hitting that milestone."

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Pedal-Powered Composter

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In an effort to effectively handle the high volume of organic material at their Montreal community garden, this Innovate or Die team has built a compost bin capable of turning 500 pounds of organic material by pedaling a modified junk bicycle. The team used a series of gear conversions to make the chore of aerating decomposing organic material a breeze.

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Pedal-Powered Drill

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Although he sets his safety standards a bit lower than PM would recommend, David Butcher's bike-powered drill caught our attention with its conversion of pedal power to usable AC. But as far as the efficiency of drills, the prospects are daunting: "The drill required 70 watts just to rotate, doing nothing at all! I was amazed it was that bad," he said. Butcher, who built the first Pedal Generator in 1976, has rigged up a bike-powered toaster oven and even a chain saw--but we're relieved to learn that Butcher had a helper make the cut while he pedaled.